Netherlands: a cry for help unanswered
The change in the reporting of the cause of
death of a Dutch teenager (which the media
saw as preventable) highlighted how support-ers of assisted dying are keen to ensure that
euthanasia’s growing acceptance in society
continues. First reported as being
‘eutha-nasia’, days later Noa Pothoven’s cause of
death was altered to one of ‘non-intervention’.
Many were horrified at the lack of sup-port available
for a girl suffering with a
mental illness, who had been waiting over
a year for treatment for an eating disorder. Others were
saddened
that
someone
so
young would entertain the idea of eutha-nasia. ‘It is difficult to imagine a teenager
with no physical ailments essentially being
allowed
to starve herself’, said
the BBC.
Noa’s devastated parents believe the Dutch
authorities failed them.